A Day at Goodwood with Infiniti

Just to warn you, this was my first ever experience at Goodwood Festival of Speed so there will be a lot of excitement and emotions in this blog post. Reader discretion is advised J

Since the day our attendance to Goodwood was confirmed, I was like a kid before Christmas. Walking around, with my head in the clouds, imagining what it is going to be like. Will tell you honestly, it exceeded all expectations.

When we arrived on site and passed ticket gates I was all over the place. My other half, yes she took part in this too, had to literally drag me between the stands. Bentley, McLaren, sports cars, classic cars… you name it. However, the most memorable moment during the first half an hour at the festival was when we were crossing the foot bridge over the Hill Climb straight. As we were climbing to the top of the bridge I heard a ‘roar’ approaching. It was coming from the left and getting louder by the second. Then it blasted beneath us. It reminded me scenes from Jurassic World, which we went to watch a few days ago.

However, there was little time to try and chase that ‘roar’ to discover what it was. We were in a bit of a rush. Once we made it to the stand, which was tucked away in one of the Goodwood House courtyards, first thing that caught my attention was Infiniti Q60 Concept.

It was mesmerizing. Its shapes, angles and those headlamps… They reminded me of bats or maybe panther’s eyes.

Before I got too carried away, guys from Infiniti told they have a surprise for us, a helicopter ride to see the festival grounds from a bird’s eye view.

The flight was unbelievable, the views stunning. It took my breath away.

When we landed, we headed straight to the Goodwood House for a tour and some Pimm’s on the balcony. On the way, we got ‘stuck’ in a crowd admiring huge line up of cars, preparing to enter the Hill Climb. Not really stuck though, the line-up was simply awesome – it would have been almost a sin to just walk past it.

Completely unexpectedly, we heard a loud bang overhead. It was the Red Arrows. They flew over in a formation with blue, red and white smoke shooting out of their tails. Few others and myself were somewhat gutted jets appeared out of nowhere. None of us had our cameras ready.

Not to worry though, Red Arrows were to return shortly and we were ready this time.

After a quick tour of the house we headed straight for the balcony to enjoy what is arguably the best view on the Hill Climb action.

The view from here also gave me a full appreciation of the scale of the festival and, most importantly, a better understanding of how significant this festival is. Goodwood Festival of Speed has something to offer to every type of petrol head.

Filled with Pimm’s and positive emotions, it was time for lunch. Needless to say, the dining area was located perfectly to catch the tyre squealing action of the Hill Climb, up close.

After lunch came another surprise. We would get an exclusive access to see the inside of Q60 Concept and QX30 Concept,

and meet Simon Cox – the design director behind Infiniti’s all new Q30 model, due to be revealed later this year at Frankfurt Motor Show.

The interior of Q60 and QX30 is as gorgeous as façade. Everyone, from driver to passengers and onlookers, is thought of and looked after.

The new Infiniti range is to be “rare and desired”. To turn your head and make you want one. And it is not about style and looks, alone.

Three words kept coming up in our conversation with Simon Cox: “Performance, craftsmanship and tailoring”. These represent Infiniti inside out. Mirrors, seats, central console, air vents, engine. Everything is created with performance, craftsmanship and tailoring in mind.

Consistency in attention to detail is seen across all Infiniti models. For example, such mundane aspect of a car as door handles. On QX30 there are none, in a conventional sense of the word. Instead, the car has touch/gesture sensitive panels fulfilling the role.

Tour on the insides of soon to be launched Infiniti models concluded our day with them, but it was only 3pm. What shall we do? Go enjoy the rest of the festival, of course. However, that deserves a separate blog post in itself. For now, this is it on my first visit to Goodwood Festival of Speed.